Paintings

Did you ever overlook the obvious?

Car repair. I almost blew my lid, literaly. The roof latch mechanism on my convertible is giving me problems. It won’t stay latched. But I’m a smart guy, I can figure it out, it’s just a simple clamp. How difficult can it be?

Fortunately, the weather has been good, so I’ve driving with my top down. But the rain in southern Germany won’t stay away for long, so when I got home today I decided to fiddle with the mechanism. The right (broken) one seemed to work the same as the left one, and there were no screws on the mechanism to adjust or that were obviously loose. Hmmm.

Puzzled, I sat in the car with the roof closed and, for lack of anything else to do, I tried to wiggle each mechanism. The broken side had a barely noticeable wiggle, but the unbroken side was solid as a rock! I opened the roof and saw that the 3 big screws that fixed the good left-side mechanism to the roof were tight. Then I looked at the broken side and … there were only 2 screws! One screw was entirely missing.

Once I noticed the missing screw, the problem was obvious. I must have missed it because I was focused on the latch mechanism and not on how the latch was attached to the roof.

Another problem solved by dumb luck. This is a good example of what psychologists call mindset or framing.

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Current Happenings —————————–

Upcoming Classes

Both classes are taught through Portland Community College Community Education

October 2018 — Watercolor Sketching: Postcards from My Travels

The class is wrapping up. Watch for more classes in the future. For a description and more information, please visit the class website: https://www.pcc.edu/staff/michael-liebhaber/

February 2019 — Think Like an Artist

Starting or rejoining your creative journey? Demonstrations and activities designed to up your creative game. We will use drawing, painting, and collage to learn about design, color, rendering, and the critical habits that artists use to develop their ideas. Drawing skill is not necessary.
Class website and PCC enrollment will be available as the class date approaches.

Current Exhibition:

“Painting to Save the Trees”

Elisabeth Jones Art Center

516 NW 14th Ave, Portland,OR

Through August

A series of watercolors from the Tree Emergency Response Team project – “Our job is to help trees to be loved and noticed by the community.”

Environmental Projects————————————–

Trees for Sale

I informally “adopt” trees that are growing on land that is for sale. My goal is to record the existence of the trees before they are replaced by progress. The first trees I’ve adopted are a group of old Oak and Douglas Fir trees that sit on land that is for sale near the Scappoose Airport. Some are very old.